An electric vehicle moves by rotating its motor using electricity stored in a battery. Such electric vehicle was developed before of the development of a typical vehicle using an internal combustion engine. However, practical limitations of the electrical vehicle caused by the weight and the time required to charge its battery hindered the full commercialization of the electric vehicle. But, the environmental concerns of using the internal combustion engine have revitalized a further development of the electric vehicle.
The electric vehicle is similar to other typical vehicles with internal combustions engines except that it employs an electric motor instead of a combustion engine. Particularly, the electric vehicle has an advantage over the typical vehicle with an internal combustion engine in that unlike the typical vehicles which requires to be at a particular place (e.g., a gas station) to be refilled with its energy source (e.g., gasoline), the electric vehicle can be charged at any place that has an electric outlet, such as a home or a parking lot.
Accordingly, electric vehicle users may have flexibility when it comes to charging their vehicles. The electric vehicle users may charge their electric vehicles in accordance with their own schedule. For example, the users may decide to charge their vehicles while they are at home or at work, shopping, or watching movies. However, when the users are not careful with charging their vehicles, there may be a circumstance in which the battery is completely discharged. In order to prevent such complete discharge of the battery, the users are inclined to charge their electric vehicles full or to a certain level.
However, the way the battery is charged and how often the battery is charged may affect the performance of the battery. Different types of batteries have different characteristics on how they need to be charged and how they are discharged. Thus, electric vehicle users may accidentally lower the performance or shorten the life-cycle of the battery through an improper charging method. Sometimes, the users may increase the risk of damaging the battery when they try to access and manipulate the battery for a different use. Therefore, if the battery is treated in a way that it negatively affects the condition of the battery, there can be losses to manufacturing or to the management of the battery since there is no correct standard for determining how the battery has been treated.
Furthermore, losses might occur when providing a charging service to electric vehicle users when the charging is not achieved efficiently. Typically, when an electric vehicle is charged to a certain level, the charging speed is reduced until the battery is fully charged. This is inefficient for entities that provide a charging service, and this inefficiency may incur losses. In other words, a variety of business operators (or business entities) associated with an electric vehicle have financial interests in how the electric battery is treated. Accordingly, a proper management of an electric vehicle battery may be required.